Fiddlesticks Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

This is my first guide, so love me, hate me, leave a comment. I tried some champions and it turned out that I'm very fond of Fiddle. I played several 100th of games with him and started trying him in ranked matches with my build I will present you here. My highest ranking is 1600.
Fiddlesticks is really squishy but deals awesome DPS and if you play him the right way you won't even die often. And now, with Fiddle having 310 Basemovementspeed and not only 300 his strength went up quite a bit!
And if you want to get a Skin, get Fiddle Me Timbers, he is just the most awesome skin!

There are no videos or pictures attached to this guide, since I don't want to brag. I only want to introduce you to a way to play Fiddlesticks whether you played him before and want to know how you can play him after the new patch or you never played him before.

Edit:
Patch 1.0.0.123
Its now a little easier to last hit due to faster autoattacks.
Nerf is not really worth mentioning, cooldown increase on Terrify maybe...

PS: Can someone tell me how to add the Skilling Order Table?

Abilities

Reduces Magic Resist of surrounding nearby Enemies by 10, very stable passive, but gives away that you are nearby, but almost no one is paying attention to his/her buff/debuff bar at all, so it doesn't really matter.

Range 575
Mana cost 65/75/85/95/105
Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11
Fear Duration 1/1,5/2/2,5/3
This is an increadible CC Ability with the longest duration. It is a really good combination with your Drain and your Ult. In Teamfights your Terrify will be an important Skill!

Range 450
Mana Cost 80/90/100/110/120
Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6
Ability power ratio .45
Damage 60/90/120/150/180
Life Steal amount 60/65/70/75/80%
Leash Range 650
Drain is the Ability which lets you stay in lane without needing Health potions, but remember you don't heal for your full dmg anymore, so you need to be cautious of enemies possibly outdamaging you, which is very unlikely but not impossible, especially with Exhaust and/or Ignite. If you play the right combination of aggressive and defensive play you will have your opponent zoned very easily!

Range 600
Mana Cost 50/70/90/110/130
Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11
Ability power ratio .45
Damage 65/85/105/125/145
Dark Wind bounces 5 times
Projectile speed 1100
Wth 5 bounces at all lvls you are now jungling a little faster, not really much though cause the dmg is lower. Great Haressing Skill with Silence effect! With only 5 Bounces at lvl5 the pushability is halfed from before. This skill use is to harass, silince and to activate opponents Banshees.

Range 800
Mana Cost 150/200/250
Damage 150/250/350
Cooldown 150/140/130
Ability power ratio .45
Casttime 1,5sec
The freaking awesome AoE dmg Ult! Use it with care, exept for laning phase, don't use it on a single person, actually, even during laning phase you should only use it to gank! Now with this buff (less cooldown with lvl2 and 3 and a little higher AP ratio) this skill is even more awesome! This is the reason you are in the Team!

Masteries + Runes

I play with 9 0 21 masteries with little alterations depending on Summoner Abilities.

9 Magic Penetration Marks
3 Flat Ability Power Quints
9 Flat Ability Power Glyphs
8 Flat Ability Power Seals, 1 Dodge Seal
This Runes provide the same Amount of Ability Power at lvl1 as with 9 Flat Ability Power Seals, only difference is 1 AP at lvl1 cause of the Masteries. The Dodge Seal is just a luck factor. With this, the possibility that the opponents Tryndamere is missing you with all his attacks does exist, even though its quite small.
Other Possibilities are:
Quints: 2nd option Magic Pen, 3rd option Flat HP, 4th option Movement Speed
Marks: there is NO 2nd option!
Glyphs: 2nd option Flat CDR, 3rd option Ap per lvl
Seals: 2nd option AP per lvl, 3rd option Mana Reg (flat or per lvl), 4th option flat armor or dodge, 5th option HP (flat or per lvl)

Items

Your Startitem is Doran's Ring, which will be sold in the end. It provides 100 HP, 15 AP and a really nice 5 Mana Reg per 5 sec. With your Drain and the Mana reg, you won't have much porblems.
If you are confident that you don't need those 100 HP and 5 Mana Reg per 5 sec, then start with [item=Tome of Magic] and a Potion of your choice.
The first time you go shop you should get Boots of Speed, which you should upgrade into the Boots of your choice, and [item=Kage's Lucky Pick], which you will sell in the very end. If you think, you don't need the 5 Gold per 10 sec, don't bother (i love it!). Now, that Rylai's Crystal Scepter actualy DOES work with your ult, this item is just awesome! The next item finishes the core Item build: Banshee's Veil, protecting you from a single CC/Skill every 45sec and provides some Magic Resistance, HP and Mana.
At this point, you should get an Oracle, so you can see opponents wards (and if there are any, stealth Heroes), so you can gank more successfully and deny opponents mapawareness. And of course, don't forget to put wards yourself, to have at least your brush/es warded has a higher priority than getting your itembuild done!
The next three Items are your choice, I prefer getting Rabadon's Deathcap, Zhonya's Hourglass and Void Staff or Abyssal Scepter depending on your opponents items for max dmg output and survivability.
So the itembuild ends up like this, for example: Sorcerer's Shoes Rylai's Crystal Scepter Banshee's Veil Rabadon's Deathcap Zhonya's Hourglass Abyssal Scepter

[item=Morello's Evil Tome]: Its quite an item giving you AP, Manareg and CDR for a very cheap price.

Deathfire Grasp: If most of your opponents stacks HP this Items active helps you out a lot, but you should still focus their squishy Carries! Of course, you don't sell your [item=Kage's Lucky Pick] in this case.

Lich Bane: Since you have about 500 AP at the end, it is not that bad, espacialy since it provides additional movement.

Haunting Guise: It's cheap and offers 20 Magic Pen, but it is not that potent lategame.

Guardian Angel: In my oppinion Fiddle is far too squishy to get any use of this item, only usefull when you are fed like hell and you could whipe the enemy team by yourself after they dropped you to 0 once by suffering a lot of damage themselves.

Spirit Visage: Quite a nice item, but you get more heal, if you have more AP and/or more Magic Reduction/Penetration as well.

Skilling Order

Since Drain got nerved and it gets better per lvl you need to max it out first. Dark Wind got changed. For early use it bounces more often but deals less dmg. So it is less useful lategame than before since it always bounces 5 times (Fiddles pushability got cut by half) The higher skills only gets stronger and has shorter cooldown so one lvl is plenty for the beginning. With the greater Terrify Range Terrify got more powerful. And obviously you take your ult whenever available!

Summoner Abilities

Flash: There are three important uses for Flash:
1. It's a nice escape skill that prevents dying in sticky situations.
2. It's a nice Chasing Skill, use Flash, Fear, Dark Wind, Drain.
3. Lastly it increases your surpriseability with your ult, you can use it to relocate it or even use it in plain sight but outside of your opponents line of sight.

Exhaust: with this, you have 20 Magic Reduction (you will still not drop your opponents below 0 Megic Resistence most likely) and you can keep your Prey in Drainrange for longer time after Fear wears off.

But there are several other possibilities: Ghost: like Flash a great escape and chasing ability, allows you to run through minions.

[spell=Clearvoyance]: Nice to have in a team, if there is no supporter in your team (or no one with Clairvoyance) this is a stable option for Fiddle!

Teleport: Grants great mobility for easy ganks, lets you shop and reg without missing out exp and you can def a defenseless tower.

Clarity: Well, you are NOT supposed to spam your skills, but it is an option if you are having heavy mana issues.

Ignite: personally, I don't like it, but it provides you with little Bonus dmg and an MS effect. But there are only very few cases where Ignite is dealing the finishing blow where no one would without you using it.

Cleanse: If you are a real pro, then this a really awesome ability, otherwise you might die before you get to use it.

Smite: If you are jungling you must take Smite! With Smite you need about 3min 40sec to clear your jungle so you are quite fast.

Heal: I wouldn't take it, but in theory its a an option, since you will channel your ult, while your team engaged a fight, when you jump in just use heal and your team will have a little bit of an Advantage. Well, theories...

[spell=Rally]: Theory goes the same as Heal, but it's no use for you, unless you get 21 0 9 Masteries, but that sucks with Fiddle.

[spell=Fortify]: Either your tank or tanky DPS Teammate take this or no one, it is not as important as Clairvoyance.

Revive: There are some Champions, that work with it like Pantheon or Twisted Fate, but NOT Fiddle!

Laning

Laning (mid/side/solo)
First, while the loading Screen is running, remember those with Ignite and/or Exhaust, these skills are pretty annoying and increase the chance of killing you quite a bit. Also remember those with Flash and/or Ghost, which could escape from you once or twice whithout taking much dmg from your Drain.
You are a mid char and one of the most powerful at that. I prefer taking midlane, you can ward your jungler (your whole team should as one) and you can counterjungle a little to get bonusexp without losing exp from the lane, just kill the opponents Blue Wraith by autoatticking him once and instantly Drain him afterwards, this will give you a huge experience advantage compared to your opponents mid char. (To do this, you should ward the Brush near Wraith Camp, since some junglers start with Red buff or Wraith. To not run into an opponents Ambush, tell your supporter to use CV at that area).

Do NOT spam your skills. just keep lasthitting creeps (it's a little hard, since Fiddle's Autoattackanimation is a quite slow, but after a little practice you should get plenty.) Since you are a poor pusher, use your autoattacks acording to your opponents pushing behavior since you don't want your tower to attack the creeps. Drain a creep if needed but preferable your opponent of course.
I have seen many passive Fiddles so far, the most important part is to play the right mix between passive and aggresive. (You reach lvl2 after killing the first 3 Melee Creeps if you killed the Blue Wraith. Now, if your opponent stands "near" you, use Flash, Dark Wind and Drain your Opponent, you propably won't kill him, but he/she wouldn't expect such an aggressive behavior and you will have zoned your opponent before he reaches lvl2! They will keep their distance from you, this will deny them lasthits and even Exp, just make sure you keep lasthitting yourself and don't tank the coming creepwaves, beware of gangs though!) There are a lot of dump players, that will try to get the one or other lasthit or to herass you, show them that that's the biggest mistake, they could do by killing them (using Flash or Ghost of available).

You shouldn't sololane, if your opponent has no jungler, since a 2vs1 lane is pretty hard on Fiddle and you are pretty squishy. Though, there are some players, who don't know about zoning. If your opponent has a jungler, sololaning is pretty much the same as midlane, be wary of gangs!

Sidelaning can be pretty difficult depending on your laningpartner and Opponents. Your Partner should have some kind of Stun/Snare so you can drain more effeciently. If you have that kind of Kombo, you will have zoned your opponents in no time. But in this case, you will get much less lasthits, which will delay your itembuild.

Your best Laningpartner is propably Morgana, with her Snare and her shield your Drain won't be interrupted. Other good Partners are Taric, Sion, Lux, LeBlanc, Rammus, Amumu and pretty much everyone else with a stun/snare.

You are getting ganked and you will most likely die, even if you try to run away using Flash and Ghost, your teammates are coming but they won't make it to rescue you? Don't run, stay there and now you are allowed to spam your skills, try to hurt them es bad as possible and let your team finish them. Remember a Fiddle that is running being slowed and whatever is a dead Fiddle and is dealing no dmg, if you are already slowed Drain your enemy, there is a chance of him withdrawing or your team finishing him.
Even if no one is coming to help you, if you are sure to die anyway, keep Draining.

Creep Jungling

If you are jungling, kill the Giant Wolf first with 3 Autoattacks and a Drain, then go to the blue buff, it will spawn a little after you get there. Jungling with Fiddle is pretty easy, just use Drain on cooldown and use autoattack while Drain is on cooldown (and be sure to have the Buffmobs inside the Brush with you just in case). you are one of the strongest Gankers after getting blue, so if top or mid have pushed, it's a pretty easy first blood! Another Advantage of fiddle is, that he can solo dragon with lvl5 with blue buff.

Don't forget, that the essential parts of a jungler are to allow your team two solo lanes, you have the following tasks:
1. Gank and kill if possible.
2. Lend a helping hand to mates that need to port back to heal or shop.
3. Put wards, since you are the one, that is running through the jungle unnoticed!

Working in the team

You shouldn't run in the open and you are NOT an Inniciator. You are waiting in a Brush or behind your team for a Teamfight to engage then channel your ult for max dmg output, instantly use Dark Wind for AoE Silence, Fear the most dangerous and Drain the Squishies. If they are focussing you, use Zhonya's, if they are running away just don't Drain but follow them using Flash and Ghost if available/neccessary and Drain the ones remaining if there are any. You shouldn't channel your ult in the open, but there is a case, where you need to jump in fast and you are in the open? Then its preferable to have Flash AND Ghost ready (at least Flash) so you won't be seen while channeling. This way, you can gank an opponents Gank, but be sure to tell your team by pinging or your gank could fail. If your Team is running around, you should stay behind by 2 Seconds (your Ultchannalingtime). If you are running around in the middle of Action, you will be focused and killed easily and you are pretty useless. After Laningphase, espacially Endgame, NEVER waste your Ult on only 1 Champ!

Farming

Learn to lasthit with this slow autoattacks and you can lasthit like with any other Char for example Ashe, (Even though, your autoattacks are dealing much less dmg) Your main Income will be your kills and assists though, so dominate your lane and gank a lot!

Worst Enemies

mid or sololane there are only a few really hard opponents:
Anivia has a stun at lvl1, which will stop your Drain. The same goes for Heimerdinger, who has stun at lvl2 and Kennen at lvl3. Lateron, Kennen is the most problematic, but you should do fine, if you play like I wrote it above. The only exception is, that you need to wait for the Enemy to waste there stun before you do so. Annie and Brand are not as annoying, just try not to get stunned. Of course there is no way to do so and still zone your Opponent, so you use your Darkwind silence to equal the dmg and prevent to take more dmg, remember you can just drain something after the stun is over. (I never laned against Brand though, so I'm not sure, how much trouble he really is)
Sidelane: a double Stun/Silence Kombo is most annoying (for example Cho'Gath, Soraka), in this case you should play defensive and try not to rely on Drain.
Fiddle vs Fiddle is pretty boring, since it's much like you have a peacetreaty, if your opponent doesn't know that, you have the upper hand, since the first one to Drain is the first one to die, because the second one will interrupt him and have more health after his Drain got interrupted.

Playing against Fiddlesticks

Here is some general knowladge, which will help you to play against a good Fiddle.
1. His passive gives you a debuff, so you can know, when he is near and might engage you with his ult.
2. He is pretty strong 1vs1 at first lvls so you shouldn't try if you can't interupt his Drain.
3. Exhaust and Ignite are pretty strong against Fiddle.
4. If Fiddle jumps into battle with his Ult, Focus and kill him! A dead Fiddle deals no dmg, but if you run, you are dead!